Newbie Know-It-Alls

[blas87]

We've had a few fresh rounds of new temps at work, and some of them just rub me the wrong way.

Maybe I'm pre-judging them, maybe I should go easier.....I'm not even sure.

I'll preface this by saying that I know I'm NOT perfect and I make mistakes and I was new once too. But I never acted like I knew the job when I didn't. That and I was ready to learn and listened to what everyone told me I needed to do, to do it right.

This one guy, he has already pissed me off. I don't know if it's just the type of person he is and we clash, but he's already acting like he knows it all. Been there a grand total of a few weeks. He was told to cover my machine so I could do something else, and I told him what was going on, that I was having problems. He got all smart on me and said he knew why that was happening, and started questioning me and my own abilities on that machine.

Err, fuck you kid. I have been working on this machine every night since last fall, I think I know how to run it and when something is wrong, it's wrong. I know what makes this thing tick and what makes it purr.

Then I was put back on the machine so he could run another one that was just fixed, and a while later, I covered his break. He came back and said "I hope you didn't break it while I was gone."

Really? You're going there?

Yes, it's a running gag between my coworkers and I (on my shift) that we break one another's machines while they go on break to spite them, but this kid was all serious when he said that.

I didn't even say anything to their shift-lead, even though she and I get along well and she would be able to tell me if he's just a fuck. I didn't feel like I should be treated that way by someone who isn't even a real employee, who is as disposable as a tampon.

And no, I am not that snotty about all temps and don't think of them all as "disposable", just people like him.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Sounds like a lot of the work experience kids that I encountered while working at the country park stables. So many of them turned up acting like they knew it all and expecting to be running the company. And then getting snotty cuz they were expected to make tea for everyone.

[Rantsylvania 6-5000]

Then I was put back on the machine so he could run another one that was just fixed, and a while later, I covered his break. He came back and said "I hope you didn't break it while I was gone."

Oh, HELL no! It's bad enough when they act like they know the job better than someone who's been there longer, but that remark was WAY out of line!

I've had these snot-nosed newbies try to "direct" me too, and I hate that!

[crashhelmet]

We've got a "contract employee" here that's like that. He's quick to give everyone his opinion, even after we prove it wrong, and involves himself in everyone else's projects and assignments. There have been very few times I've ever wished someone's contract not be converted or renewed. He is one of them.

CH

[blas87]

Another employee on his shift who I can trust is working tonight. I will ask her what his deal is, or if he's just taken to having an issue with me.

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

Oh I have had people like that. And yes I want to strangle them and/or beat their heads into the equipment until something breaks.

Now I had one person when I was working at Smiths Medical who took to a machine I was working on and took to it and just seemed to get in-tune with it. This kid was able to learn Small-Gauge Needle Assembly and rock out higher numbers per shift than I was...and until him I was the best.

And he got better than me in three days.

BUT! he wasn't douchey about it. In fact when he would see the numbers and track them against other shifts and other operators, was rather apologetic about it. I didn't mind him. He learned the machinery from me, he learned it well, and he applied it very well. I got a pat on the back and the shift-leader position for that area (supervising 5 machines and the teams running them) because of how well I taught the new kid who was my replacement.

Oh No...the ones that I hated were the ones who would come in, claim that they could run the machine blindfolded and with both hands behind their back. That they would proclaim that there was no need to double bag the product (*1) and they weren't going to do it (until I got the Shift Manager on their ass about it). And my most favorite was they proclaiming that they could do the machine far better than anyone out there and then bitched and moaned that they couldn't do the machine because other people were sabotaging them.

For every one like the kid who took over for me at SGNA, there were an even dozen who were total choads about it and just made me want to beat them senseless.

*1 - The reason for double bagging is for cleanliness. When we would make product for packaging, we made it in the "clean" area of the facility where we double bagged it. The double bagged product was then taken to the warehouse for storage until we had a full lot of material. The warehouse was not "clean". So when we would bring the product out onto the floor for packaging, the outer bag was opened and the still-clean inner bag of product was brought to the teams packaging the product where it was packaged and then sent to the autoclave for final sterilization. Dumb shit didn't get it and argued every night until I got the manager to climb up his ass.

[blas87]

Well, coworker told me that this guy has already stepped on more than a few people's toes, so to speak, and all he really needs is a good old fashioned knocking down a few steps and reminding him that you're the senior operator and he's the new person and you know how to do your job. At least that's what I was told.

I love the ones who think that just because they've worked in a factory before, that they know everything about this one. Wrong. That's the same thing as working at Wal-Mart, then getting hired at K-Mart and trying to tell everyone how to do their jobs. If you haven't worked HERE before, you don't know shit until we say you do.